1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to loading machines and, more particularly, is concerned with an improved leaf loading machine capable of sweeping and picking up leaves under diverse and adverse conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various machines for sweeping and removing leaves, trash and debris from municipal streets, roads, parks and other surfaces are in wide use at the present time. Representative of the prior art are the sweepers and collectors disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. to Cromwell (3,183,653), Doering (3,922,744), Saiia (3,990,125), Donohue (3,993,141), and Olson et al (4,624,026) and embodied in machines commercially available under the trademarks, Sweepster and Tarco, and tradename, Vanguard. Other prior art harvesting machines for picking up crop materials are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. to Resetich (3,797,216) and Ramacher et al (3,872,657).
Many prior art sweepers and collectors operate satisfactorily when the prevailing conditions are close to ideal, such as where the leaves and other debris are dry and lie in loose and scattered arrangements on a surface. However, when adverse weather produces less than ideal conditions, such as where leaves and other debris becomes wet, compacted, frozen or hard-packed, many prior art machines fail to do an adequate job of sweeping and removing the materials.
One major shortcoming of many prior art machines lies in the inability of their sweeping rotors vacuums and brooms to perform the multiplicity of functions required to handle the diversity of adverse conditions typically encountered, such as mentioned above. While the brooms may be adequate to sweep the loose materials, they are frequently incapable of loosening packed material. Also, while a set of tandemly-arranged brooms may be able to lift dry and fluffy materials, they are commonly incapable of lifting heavier and more dense clumps and piles of wet debris.
Consequently, a need exists for a leaf collecting or harvesting machine of improved versatility rendering it capable of satisfactory performance under a variety of adverse conditions, such as handling removal of densely-packed piles of leaves and debris.